Wat Chaiwattanaram วัดไชยวัฒนาราม , Ayutthaya

Wat Chaiwattanaram, Ayutthaya (30 December, 2002)


Wat Chaiwattanaram (GPS: 14.34304, 100.54181; วัดไชยวัฒนาราม ) is a Buddhist temple in Ayutthaya built by King Prasat Thong (1635-1655) in 1630. It was built to celebrate his victory over the Khmers. And to make merit for his mother, he sited the temple on his mother's old residence.

This beautiful temple is located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, overlooking Ayutthaya island. It is one of the few temples in Ayutthaya which are lit at night. The architectural style is reminiscent of Khmer temples, like Angkor Wat, where a main prang is surrounded by four smaller chedis, as a symbolic representation of Mount Meru.

A gallery of 120 stucco images can be found running along the four sides of the temple. Within the lesser studas are twelve crowned Buddha images. The ordination hall is located to the east of the main prang. The main prang is 35 meters high. The four chedis surrounding it have seven levels.

Wat Chaiwattanaram was a temple where the king and his descendents could perform religious rites. It has also been used for the cremation of the members of the royal family of Ayutthaya. The temple was used as an army camp when Ayutthaya was besieged by the Burmese, in the attack of 1767. When Ayutthaya fell, Wat Chaiwattanaram suffered massive destruction, looting and decapitation of its many Buddha figures. Restoration work was begun by the Fine Arts Department in 1987, and completed in 1992.

Wat Chaiwattanaram, Ayutthaya (30 December, 2002)


View of a chedi (left) and a prang (right) of Wat Chaiwattanaram, Ayutthaya (30 December, 2002)


One of the chedi of Wat Chaiwattanaram, Ayutthaya (30 December, 2002)

Wat Chaiwattanaram on Google Street View

Wat Chaiwattanaram (Apr 2015)

Wat Chaiwattanaram is on the map of Ayutthaya

List of Wats in Ayutthaya and Wats in Thailand

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

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